What Do You Do For Living?

Often when meeting new crowds of friends, we’re prone to ask, “what do you do?”. The obvious answer for me is a Web Developer, and I personally feel it’s down right cool.

But there’s always a follow up statement that bugs me, “so you’re a freelancer”.

Trying my best not to bore people with what I do and how much fun I’m having, I nodded.

Somehow I get the feeling people look down on my job description. Partly because it sounds cheap, or maybe they’ve always thought that website is like blogger.com or wordpress.com, it’s free.

Is it so hard for them to see, that web developer has so many considerations before making it live? For instance, web usability and interface. It is always our best interest to provide the easiest solution, so layman can use them.

Another example is looks. It’s art and it’s abstract. What I like, you may not like and vice versa. And the amount of time needed to photoshop the images provided, sometimes back to retracing the whole graphic. It take years of experience, and considering the cost of software itself, some costs a left pinky.

Not to mention making it slim, so that your sorry ass streamyx loads faster.

Nah, people don’t care about these details. A web is like a words document. Open, Edit, Cut and Paste, Save as and Close.

So where does my job land me in the social status? Better than my previous job?

No matter how much I’m proud of my passion, a web developer isn’t marketable, especially if your future in laws ask you. I guess I have to bring my bank statement everywhere I go, especially to blind dates.

Oh well, typically Malaysians, JUDGEMENTAL and materialistic 🙄

ps: I got an offer to re-track my steps in Engineering. Sadly, I F*CKing love my job. Sorry.

pss: There’s RM304.45 on my bank balance. I guess I have to bring my ASB book and my degree certificate as well 😮

psss: I have an Engineering Degree in Telecommunications from Nottingham. Top 100 in world! So can I marry your daughter, Uncle? ➡